Liquid Alkanes with Targeted Molecular Weights from Biomass‐Derived Carbohydrates

Abstract

Liquid transportation fuels must burn cleanly and have high energy densities, criteria that are currently fulfilled by petroleum, a non-renewable resource, the combustion of which leads to increasing levels of atmospheric CO(2). An attractive approach for the production of transportation fuels from renewable biomass resources is to convert carbohydrates into alkanes with targeted molecular weights, such as C(8)-C(15) for jet-fuel applications. Targeted n-alkanes can be produced directly from fructose by an integrated process involving first the dehydration of this C(6) sugar to form 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, followed by controlled formation of C-C bonds with acetone to form C(9) and C(15) compounds, and completed by hydrogenation and hydrodeoxygenation reactions to form the corresponding n-alkanes. Analogous reactions are demonstrated starting with 5-methylfurfural or 2-furaldehyde, with the latter leading to C(8) and C(13) n-alkanes.

Production of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural from Fructose Catalyzed by Sulfonated Bamboo-Derived Carbon Prepared by Simultaneous Carbonization and Sulfonation

“…1b) demonstrates bands at 1008 cm -1 , 1033 cm -1 , and 1173 cm -1 , which are consistent with SO3H groups Geng et al 2011). In addition, phenolic C-OH, C=C, C=O, OH stretching vibration, and carboxylic C-OH bending vibration bands appear at 1225 cm -1 , 1618 cm -1 , 1733 cm -1 , 2995 cm -1 , and 1430 cm -1 , respectively, demonstrating the presence of COOH (2) ( 1) and phenolic OH groups on the surface of the catalyst (Weng 2010;Fu et al 2012;Qi et al 2012). XPS analysis (Fig.…”

“…The addition of a low boiling point solvent of THF into DMSO not only can increase the selectivity to HMF, but it also improves the separation efficiency (Wang et al 2013). On the one hand, in THF, fructose is very favorable to be converted into the furanoid form, which is much easier to generate HMF (West et al 2008;Zhu et al 2011;Wang et al 2013), and on the other hand, miscibility of THF with water can take the generated water away from liquid phase, preventing the side reactions due to the presence of water molecules (Chan and Zhang 2009;Cao et al 2011;Wang et al 2013). The influence of the volume ratio of THF/DMSO on fructose dehydration to HMF is shown in Table 2 (entries 4 to 8).…”

Replacing coal with wood: sustainable, eco-neutral, conservation harvest of natural tree-fall in old-growth forests

“…Those taxes may also stimulate the more efficient production from wood, beyond classic anoxic pyrolysis, of 'new' renewable liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon fuels (e.g., Carlson et al 2008;Ryan et al 2008) and of feedstocks for organic syntheses. I believe such must ultimately serve as the main sustainable substitutes for the non-renewable GHG-generating supplies of fossil oil and natural gas that all agree are being depleted rapidly.…”

Catalytic Alkylation of 2-Methylfuran with Formalin Using Supported Acidic Ionic Liquids

“…6 In this context, the conversion of sugar-derived intermediates to oxygenated products -which can further be converted into liquid alkane fuels by deoxygenation -have received increased attention. [7][8][9] Liquid C 7 -C 15 alkanes can be produced by dehydration of biomass-derived carbohydrates followed by aldol condensation/dehydration/hydrogenation over multi-catalytic systems in aqueous phase. 5 Acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation is a well-known and important route to produce n-butanol as a major product from glucose.…”

“…10 n-Butanol can then be dehydrated to produce 1-butene, 11 and a fully saturated fuel mixture can be obtained through successive oligomerization and hydrogenation over solid acid catalysts and PtO 2 , respectively, in the absence of solvents. 12,13 Another interesting route to make long chain alkane fuels are via aldol condensation of furfural and acetone catalyzed by mineral base, 8 organic base 14 or solid base catalysts. 15,16 Here C 8 and C 13 oxygenates were obtained in high yields, and metal loaded catalysts could efficiently promote the subsequent hydrogenation and hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) to afford C 8 -C 13 alkanes.…”